July 21

Jeremiah 18:1-6

The potter

One day, the Lord told Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house. Jeremiah went there and found the potter making clay pots on his wheel. Jeremiah noticed that whenever the pot the potter was making did not turn out exactly right, he would take the clay and shape it into something else.

Then the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Do I not have the right to do with the Israelites what this potter has done with his clay? You are in My hands like the clay in the potter’s hands.”

How does God mold me?

Have you ever shaped things with modeling clay? What do you do when something doesn’t look right? You squeeze the clay into a ball and start over, perhaps trying something new. The clay that potters use is like sticky mud. If the clay is soft, it can be molded easily; if it is hard or lumpy, the pot is ruined.

We were formed from the dust (or clay) of the earth (Genesis 2:7). Just as a potter keeps his eyes on the spinning lump of clay he is shaping, God keeps His eyes on us as He forms and molds us into His likeness. By using both hands to gently shape the vessel, the potter feels the clay all the time and knows exactly how much pressure to apply. Our lives are in God’s loving hands as He gently works with us, for He knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:13–14).

God may use circumstances and relationships in your life to smooth out rough places and prepare you for a special purpose. But God also knows that we are fragile and weak, so He carefully works on us to shape us into the people He wants us to be (Romans 9:21).

Verse for today

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8